Mangalhat: Telangana’s Den of Illegal Activities Flourish as Police Turn Blind Eye
HYDERABAD: In 2015, the state police cleaned out the illicit liquor industry from Mangalhat and surrounding areas. About a decade later, ganja suppliers and cricket betting and satta operators have occupied the space. Crores of rupees of illegal money is transactd by co-opting with some police officers, a senior police official said.
As per the transfer orders issued by the then Hyderabad commissioner of police (GO MS 32 dated April 30, 2023), 1,471 constables were transferred. One of them was Mahender Yadav, part of the Mangalhat crime team. He was supposed to be posted with Jubilee Hills traffic police.
However, the Mangalhat station head grew suspicious about Special Branch officials coming to know about Mahender Yadav working as a “collector of mamool (bribes)” and posted him in the warrant execution team, a Mangalhat police personnel confirmed.
Mahender Yadav reportedly had a close nexus with drug, betting, belt shops and satta mafia, and was allegedly deputed to collect mamools from them to distribute among some corrupt officials, another police official told Deccan Chronicle.
“Mahender Yadav is very popular. He sits in a bakery opposite the Mangalhat police station, where he collects mamool from anti-social elements and shares them with corrupt police officers,” the police officer said.
There are over 84 belt shops in Mangalhat police station area that run 24x7, unnoticed by the police authorities. “Due to these belt shops, our business is being affected,” a wine shop owner said.
According to a social worker of Dhoolpet, a teacher, these anti-social elements run their businesses unhindered even though senior police officials repeatedly warn against indulging such illegal activities.
During investigation, Deccan Chronicle found that hundreds of college students buy dry ganja from one Sattu in Aramgarh Colony, Mangalhat, S. Sudhakar, a resident of Hanuman Mandir area said.
The belt shops which run 24x7 provide better facilities than bars, sources said. One of these outlets, run by one Abhishek, runs out of a four-storey establishment and is at a walkable distance from the Mangalhat police station.
One Suresh Singh, who runs a belt shop at Jhirra, who sells liquor on credit with heavy interest, said Mohammed Altaf, an autorickshaw driver.
During the past two months there was no arrest in drugs, cricket betting or satta cases. “Most of our staff are busy in election duties. Our special crime teams and IT teams are monitoring CCTV cameras on the activities of ganja suppliers and will act on any suspicious activity,” N. Sreeramulu, Mangalhat detective sub-inspector, told this newspaper.
The task force and TSNAB are also keeping surveillance on the suspects, DSI said.
An investigation carried out by Deccan Chronicle and interactions with locals and other police officials revealed that the area under Mangalhat police station limits can be marked as the one infested with the state’s top mafia top bulk NDPS drug organisers, cricket betting organisers, satta organisers and over 84 belt and bars that operate 24x7 doing crores of rupees worth illegal business unnoticed by law enforcement agencies.